Friday, December 21, 2007

In the early 1980s a civil war erupted in El Salvador killing asestimated 100,000 people. In addition, it is estimated between oneand two million people have immigrated to the United States as aresult of the unstable environment in El Salvador.

The first large population of El Salvadorian refuges settled in theRampart area of Los Angeles. This influx of immigrants looking for lowcost housing and employment was not readily welcomed by theMexican-American population who were already residing in that area.The area was already plagued with gangs and crime.

These immigrant Salvadorian youth and young adults were soon werevictimized by local gangs. A group of Salvadorian immigrants created anew gang calling themselves Mara Salvatrucha also known as MS-13. Itis believed they got their name from combining the name of "La Mara",a violent street gang in El Salvador with Salvatruchas, a term used todenote members of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. Thiswas a group of Salvadorian peasants trained as guerilla fighters. The"13" was added to pay homage to the California prison gang, theMexican Mafia.

Members of this newly formed gang soon engaged in violent criminalacts. They quickly became known as one of the most violent gangs inthe area because many of their founding members had experience ortraining in guerilla warfare, thus gaining a level of sophisticationthat superseded their rivals.

Various members of the newly formed MS-13 were soon arrested anddeported back to El Salvador. All deportees were first housed in theGuezaltepeque Prison, in Northern El Salvador. Quickly andunexpectedly, Mara Salvatrucha flourished in the prison system andrecruitment began on the streets in El Salvador, while the gangcontinued to grow in the United States as well.

With little direction and opportunities, many Central American youthadmired the Mara Salvatrucha deportees and wanted to learn more abouttheir gang. One deportee reported that upon returning to his hometown,there were only he and two other MS-13 gang members. His said that theinterest in MS-13 was so big, that over 40 kids asked to be initiated(which consists of a beating for 13 seconds) into the gang on one dayalone.

The gang soon became the largest gang in El Salvador and soon spreadto the Honduras and Guatemala. Their rivals, although much smaller innumber, are known as 18th Street or MS-18, another American born gang.

Mara Salvatrucha has become Central America's greatest problem. Inaddition to violent acts committed by the gang against citizens andgang rivalries, the gang has even engaged in organized violent actsagainst the government. In 1997 the son of Honduras President RicardoMaduro was kidnapped and murdered by MS-13 members. MS-13 members havecontinued to taunt Central American government officials. Members alsoleft a dismembered corpse with a note for the Honduras president that"more people will die… the next victims will be police andjournalists." In 2004, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger received asimilar messages attached to the body of a dismembered man from MS-13members.

In 2002 in the city of Tegucigalpa in the Honduras, MS-13 membersboarded a public bus and immediately executed 28 people including 7small children. Again, they left a message written on the front of thebus taunting government officials.

Honduras was the first Central American country to adopt strictanti-gang laws. As a result of MS-13, government officials enacted alaw that makes it illegal to be an associate of a crime, in otherwords, if someone looked like a gang member, they were subject toarrest. El Salvador adopted a similar law calling it Mano Dura or FirmHand. In 2004, El Salvador implemented Super Mano Dura, to strengthenelements of their existing laws. A suspect in violation of these lawscould find themselves facing a 12-year prison sentence even if nocrime had been committed. Having a gang tattoo was evidence enough.

Of the new laws, former Honduran police commissioner, Maria LuisaBorjas, said, "They grab three or four young people wandering aroundand present them as suspects… blaming them for every single crimewithout justification."

After an increase in crime, Mexico began a campaign in 2004 toeradicate MS-13 when they arrested 300 members calling them a "threatto National security."

Over the past few years there has been numerous speculation anddiscussion regarding Central America's death squads. The existence ofdeath squads for political purposes has been a frequent occurrence inhistory. In El Salvador in the 1980s a vigilante group was identifiedknown as Sombra Negra, or Black Shadow. They were extremely active inattempting to remove criminal elements from their society. It isbelieved that this group felt their judicial system was not apt atdealing with the nation's problems, so they became what some wouldcall "Self-appointed executioners of justice." Compared to similargroups of years past, Sombra Negra receives little attention ormention from the media. This may be in part because they do not engagein massive executions, but instead kill their victims individually orin small groups. In addition their victims are almost exclusively gangmembers and other criminals and many Salvadorians support the idea ofremoving this undesirable element from their country.

Although the El Salvadorian government officially denies allsponsorship and involvement in the activities of Sombra Negra, manycivic rights groups have reported that the group is mostly comprisedof off-duty police and military personnel who are attempting tocleanse their society of criminals and gang members.

Although death squads have been active in other Central Americancountries, they appear to be most prevalent in El Salvador.

However, in Honduras there have been incidents causing some tospeculate that the government condones the random execution of gangmembers. Specifically, there have been two prisons which have caughtfire which housed MS-13 gang members. The first killed over 61inmates. In the last incident 103 MS-13 members were burned or died ofsmoke inhalation. Some survivors and human rights activist have blamedprison guards for the deaths stating most of the deaths could havebeen prevented. Many civic rights groups who monitor human rights inCentral America have speculated possible government involvement inthese incidents.

Currently El Salvador has a murder rate of approximately 54 per every100,000 people, while the United States murder rate is approximately 6per every 100,000.

With El Salvador's high murder rate brings the speculation that mostof their murders currently go unsolved and with little investigation.Coupled with the idea of death squads killing gang members would leavethe assumption that El Salvadorian law enforcement officers wouldfocus their resources towards the most serious of crimes—the killingof innocent persons, rather than the murders of hardened or speculatedgang members. With this in mind, it would be common knowledge thatindividuals or groups could murder gang members or criminals withlittle chance of being identified by law enforcement.

One news media reporter stated that they know of an MS-13 gang memberwho was deported. The MS-13 member used a cheese grater to scrape offthe tattoos from his skin so he would not be discovered should he bestopped by Sombra Negra.

In March of 2006 the United States Department of State found the ElSalvadorian government generally respected the rights of its citizens,but human rights were undermined by widespread impunity, corruptionamong security forces and government authorities and a tremendousproblem with gang violence. Some of the items mentioned include;excessive use of force and mistreatment of detainees, arbitrary arrestand detention, harsh prison conditions, inefficiency and corruption inthe judicial system.

Although all recent information indicates Sombra Negra is still activein El Salvador, the government has begun taking a proactive approachat alternative programs, such as implementing Mano Amiga or PlanFriendly Hand. This is a program for young people giving themtreatment for substance abuse and social reinsertion.

Many media groups have reported the case of Edward Guzman, an MS-13member who left Guatemala to escape the gang lifestyle. Though only14-years-old at the time, he was threatened with death by his fellowgang members if he attempted to quit the gang. He fled to the UnitedStates to escape the gang lifestyle. At the age of 16, on March 10,2004, he was deported back to his home. He hid in his home for severaldays. His first day to venture out was March 20, 2004. He made it only5 blocks where he was shot multiple times. It was believed he waskilled as punishment for deserting the gang.

Deported MS-13 members have difficulty leaving the gang. When they doreturn to their country they are held in a prison exclusively forMS-13 gang members until their cases are reviewed. Upon release evenif they have a family support system, MS-13 members are expected tocontinue their membership in the gang. Failure to do so could resultin punishment from the gang ranging from being physically assaulted byother members of the gang or by death.

Despite death squads and increased laws pertaining to gang membershipand activity, Central America is still seeing an increase in theirgang population and problems.

Although Sombra Negra activities have seemed to diminish since the1980s, all information indicates that members and sympathizers stillactively murder criminals and gang members. It has been reported ofwidespread corruption in El Salvador which only increases thepossibility of this group existing and operating with little fear ofreprisal from the government.

As a result of the poor conditions in El Salvador, many MS-13 membershave illegally immigrated to our nation where our law enforcementefforts and prisons seem tame when compared to their homeland.

MS-13 members in our country are known to be involved in all aspectsof criminal activity. Some law enforcement sources have reported thatbecause of their ties to their former homeland, MS-13 members haveaccess to sophisticated weapons thus making firearms trafficking oneof their many criminal enterprises.

Despite their access to weaponry, there have been many high-profilemurders and assaults in which MS-13 have used machetes to attack theirvictims.

The federal government has increased efforts to locate and deportillegal MS-13 members living in our nation but with the lack ofcooperation from many cities whom support sanctuaries policies, hasmade the government's job an uphill battle.